Jessica Alba’s new book: Honest advice on kids and cleaning

Whitney English is a reporter and host in Los Angeles with over six years of experience working for outlets like E! Entertainment, MSN TV, SheKnows.com, and many more. She has a passion for health and fitness and documents her journey of...

3 Ways to Make Your Home Safer

Jessica Alba adds author to her resume with her new book, The Honest Life. Get a sneak peek at the advice you'll find inside.

Jessica Alba is already helping moms everywhere be more eco-friendly with her line of safe baby and home products from The Honest Company. And now the actress is spilling all the secrets to her healthy lifestyle in her new book, The Honest Life. The book covers a variety of topics from home to beauty to parenting.

"I covered everything from food to fashion to beauty to nursery to DIY," Alba told us when we stopped by the Mondrian Los Angeles for her book launch. "It started out because I wanted to put together the safest, healthiest home for my family, and I found the marketplace confused me. I always felt like it was so extreme. You had to be vegan, living off the grid, wearing hemp, doing yoga and meditating all day… that just isn’t me. On the flip side, I wanted to make better choices. You can live a balance in life."

Jessica told us three quick ways we can instantly make our homes safer — without going to the extreme — are to take your shoes off at the door, open your windows more often and read labels.

"You trek in lead dust, petrochemicals, and sewage from the outside," said Alba. "It’s better to leave it at the door. Open your windows as much as you can. Let the fresh air in. Inside a home is actually more polluted than outside. It’s due to the off-gassing from the fabrics, cushions and carpeting and all the flame retardants. And read labels. Know what you’re buying and putting on your skin and in your home. Just be a little more conscious."

Despite her successful business, Alba tells us her main focus is and always has been her daughters: Honor, 4, and Haven, 1.

"My kids’ happiness is my number one priority," said Alba. "Everything else is a far second. I have a kids area that I made at the office. I know we’re going to be there really long hours and I wanted us to be able to have our kids play at lunch, because I know we may not be able to make it home for bedtime every night."

Alba has set a strict bedtime of 7 p.m. for both her little ones and says it’s how she fits in her "me" time.

"I’m big on schedule," she told SheKnows. "The schedule is in the book. It’s when I can hang out with Cash [Warren] or return that email, or have dinner with friends."

When she’s not working, most of her day is spent playing with the girls.

"Honor loves to play dress-up," said Alba. "It’s her favorite thing ever. I think Honor is tricking [Haven] into being a girly girl. Because she likes cars and trucks and helicopters, but Honor is in a wig and heels and dresses and jewelry. She’s such a princess. First she’s The Little Mermaid and then she’s Cinderella and then she’s Merida from Brave."

Don’t let the glamourizing fool you though. With Alba’s outlook on parenting, Honor probably won’t end up becoming a diva.

"Having respect for myself and respect for others are two big things I try to instill in Honor," she told SheKnows. "Now that she’s a little more aware, I talk to her about what’s appropriate. How to act, being kind… to the planet, to animals, to her friends, and strangers. And having her own self-respect."

All great words to live by! For more of Alba’s advice for a healthy, happy life, pick up The Honest Life in stores now.